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Ursula
Ursula is the main antagonist of The Little Mermaid. While in Hans Christian Anderson's novel, upon which The Little Mermaid was based, she was a harmless old mermaid alchemist, in the Disney film adaptation she is portrayed as a fearsome and evil sorceress who seeks domination of the Seven Seas and probably the world beyond. She exhibits the Sin of Gluttony, given her immense girth. She ranked #5 at the top 30 disney villains. One better than Cruella De Vil but one place under the Evil Queen. The Little Mermaid When Ursula first appears in the film, she states through monologue that she once lived in the royal palace of King Triton, the king of the underwater city of Atlantica. She was banished from Atlantica and made her home in the remains of a leviathan where she waits the chance to get her revenge on Triton and become Queen of Atlantica. The entrance to Ursula's leviathan home is lined with a garden of writhing polyps which were merfolk who had been previously gone to Ursula for help, but found themselves unable to fulfill their side of the bargain, leading Ursula to claim them as her own and added them to her collection. The garden of polyps is part of the original fairytale, but is simply a guard of the way to the sea witch's home, and not condemned merfolk. Ursula commands her minions, moray eels Flotsam and Jetsam, to watch Triton's youngest daughter Ariel, whom might be "the key to Triton's undoing". Opportunity arises when Ursula learns that Ariel has fallen in love with a human, against Triton's explicit rules. Flotsam and Jetsam lure Ariel to Ursula's lair, claiming that only Ursula can help her. Ursula proposes via the song Poor Unfortunate Souls an agreement where Ursula will transform Ariel into a human, and she has three days to get the "kiss of true love" from Eric. If Ariel fails, she will be turned back into a mermaid, bound to Ursula for eternity and whithered down into a polyp. The price for the transformation is Ariel's voice. Ariel agrees and signs a magical contract, so her voice is magically pulled into Ursula's Nautilus shell necklace, and her tail is split into legs. In comparison, the original fairytale involves the sea witch taking the little mermaid's voice by cutting off her tongue, and her tail was transformed into legs by a magic potion, which the mermaid was to drink on the beach surface. When Ariel comes "too close" to succeeding in her task, Ursula decides "to take matters into her own tentacles" and takes the form of a beautiful human female with Ariel's voice in order to sabotage her relationship with Eric. Ursula adopts the name of "Vanessa", and when in this form, her voice is provided by Jodi Benson, who also voices Ariel. The concept of the beautiful dark-haired rival for the prince's affections is another plot point adapted and modified from the original fairytale. Ursula as Vanessa bewitches Eric to marry her, but the wedding is disrupted at the last minute while the dog bites her on the bottom and the Nautilus shell containing Ariel's voice is broken, breaking the enchantment and returning Ariel's voice back to its owner. However, the sun sets before Ariel and Eric can kiss. King Triton confronts Ursula, restored to her normal form. She reveals her true goal, and begins to whither Ariel down into a polyp. With Triton helpless to save his daughter, Ursula finally has her bargaining chip. Ariel's life. Ursula forces Triton to choose between his freedom and his daughter's. Triton agrees to take Ariel's place, and Ursula takes the crown and magical trident, making her the Queen of the Seven Seas. She also returns Ariel to normal and turns Triton into a polyp instead. Enraged, Ariel attacks Ursula, only to be thrown aside. Ursula then aims her trident at the princess and prepares to destroy her, claiming she'd blast her with or without a contract. Before the killing bolt can be fired, Eric throws a harpoon at Ursula. It hits her arm and the new sea queen orders Flotsam and Jetsam to drown him. Ursula also holds Ariel back with one of her tentacles, not wanting to let her royal prey go. The eels fail and Ursula gleefully aims the trident at him. A quick move by Ariel manages to make Ursula accidentally kill her own eels which she mourns "My poor little poopsies" and quickly gets angry with Ariel and Eric swimming to the surface. A battle follows, during which Ursula wants to finish what she started and kill Ariel. She grows into a giant and creates a storm which separates the royal lovers. With Ariel alone, Ursula creates a whirlpool, to trap and destroy her in. The Sea Queen imprisons the princess in the bottom of the whirlpool. Ariel looks up from her whirlpool prison and realizes the danger she's in. Ursula was going to kill her! Ursula, smiling wickedly at the princess, shoots multiple fatal blasts at Ariel, hoping one will destroy her. Ariel just barely manages to avoid her own death each time. Ursula laughs, enjoying the game, and raises the trident. She prepares a blast that will not only be unavoidable for the princess but would be totally lethal. Ariel gapes in terror, knowing she's facing certain death. Just when Ursula is about to finally kill Ariel, Eric drives a ship’s mast into her belly, ultimately defeats her. When Ursula is destroyed, all the merfolk that had been under her power, including Triton, are released from their bonds. In the 2006 Platinum DVD, deleted scenes revealed early concept ideas where Ursula is Triton's sister, making her Ariel's aunt. This concept was not used in the final film, and remains arguably canon. The Little Mermaid TV series Ursula appears as a villainess on the The Little Mermaid prequel television series. The episodes she appears in are "Against the Tide", "Tail of Two Crabs", "Heroes" and "Ariel's Treasures". In all the episodes she executes various plans to antagonize King Triton and take over Atlantica. The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea Ursula doesn't appear in this direct-to-DVD film, but she is mentioned various times, mostly by her sister Morgana, also a Cecelia. She is seen as a picture in Morgana's lair. This picture sinks with Morgana when she is turned into a block of ice by King Triton at the end of the movie. Kingdom Hearts series Ursula was one of Maleficent's followers, and assisted by lending the powers of the ocean. With Ursula's help, the Heartless entered Atlantica. Ursula tricked Princess Ariel into helping her steal the trident from King Triton so that she could see other worlds. Ursula didn't keep her end of the deal - she did threaten Ariel to enter into the dark world of the Heartless,giving herself into darkness in the progress, but failed when Sora and company came to King Triton's palace. She disappeared in ink with the trident in her possession. Ariel joined Sora, Donald, and Goofy to confront her in her lair to get the trident back. Once they arrived, she, Flotsam and Jetsam battled them. In the end, Flotsam and Jetsam were defeated, and Ursula swore revenge. She disappeared once again, and Sora and friends found Ursula in a large,scary, empty trench. She used the power of the trident and darkness to become a giant, Sora and friends battled her once again. She wielded powerful Thunder magic. However, Ariel, Sora and friends defeated her and she vanshied into darkness, killing her. The prize for defeating Ursula is the Crabclaw keyblade and a Thunder magic upgrade. ''Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories'' Ursula makes an appearance in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories as a figment of Sora's memories. Ursula told Ariel that she could help her find her missing friend Flounder with the trident. Ariel agreed, but wasn't sure if what she was doing was right. She told Ursula she needed more time to think about it. Sora, Donald, and Goofy arrived and told Ariel not to trust Ursula, but they'd go with her if it's the only way to get Flounder back. Once they arrived in Ursula's lair, Ariel asked her to get Flounder back first. It was revealed that Ursula kidnapped Flounder to obtain the trident. She would not let Flounder go, unless Ariel gave up the trident. Ariel handed it over to her, and Ursula remembered that Ariel also wanted to see other worlds, but it would unfortunately be "a one way trip". She used the trident to become a giant, just as she did in the first game. Sora and friends battled her and won. Ursula also appeared in Riku's story (Reverse/Rebirth), as a figment of his memory and a representation of the darkness within him. ''Kingdom Hearts II'' Revived by the powers of darkness, Ursula returned in Kingdom Hearts II without the Heartless and Maleficent on her side. She told Ariel that she could help her be with Prince Eric, by turning Ariel herself into a human (a spell that only lasted for three days). Ariel agreed, and signed a contract with Ursula which stated that: if Ariel was able to kiss Eric before the sunset of the third day, then she could stay human forever, but, if she didn't obtain a kiss, she would turn back into a mermaid and belong to Ursula. After Ariel signed the contract, Ursula took Ariel's voice (the price for Ursula's spell) and turned the princess into a human girl. After three days had passed and Ariel still hadn't obtained a kiss, Ursula turned herself into a human girl (Vanessa) and used Ariel's voice to hypnotize Eric, taking him away from Ariel. Sora and the others saw through Ursula's disguise and broke the amulet in which Ariel's voice was being kept, thus releasing Eric from her grip and returning Ariel's voice. But it was too late, the sun had set and Ursula dragged Ariel into the sea with her. King Triton tried to stop Ursula, but not even he could break the contract, so King Trition signed over Ariel's name and took her place. This allowed Ursula to have possesion over the Trident once again, and she used its power to become gigantic one more time. With the trident, Ursula turned King Triton into a lowly sea creature. After a battle, Sora knocked the Trident off Ursula's hand and it landed on the boat which Prince Eric was on. He then threw it at Ursula and the Trident went through her chest in a beam of light, defeating her once more. The battle against Ursula in Kingdom Hearts II is a staged performance in song. The prize for defeating Ursula is the Mysterious Abyss Keyblade. Extension Other materials were released as part of Disney's The Little Mermaid franchise, including books and comics, though these materials are arguably part of the animated canon. In the first two issues of the official "The Little Mermaid" comic, Ursula appears briefly to negotiate with a race of eel-men for the carcass of a Leviathan which she would convert into the home seen in the 1989 film. Ursula frequently appears in Ariel's comics in the Disney Princess magazines, often in a villainous role. In the Disney Press book "The Villain Files", it is implied that Ursula is Ariel's aunt, a concept that is based on the abandoned story concept of the 1989 film. In contrast, the Disney Princess Press book "My Side of the Story", Ursula is stated to be clearly unrelated to Triton, for whom she claims to have an unrequited love for. 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